Deloitte Financial Advisory Services partner Nicholas Harwood said: “Falling iron ore prices and the dwindling pipeline of new projects are well documented. They are impacting miners in terms of profitability and market capitalisation, and these impacts are, not surprisingly, also being felt by those in the mining services sector.

“In Q4 2014, there was some improvement in sentiment towards the top 10 participants (which comprise 84% of the Index), with the market capitalisation of five improving and five deteriorating.

“The net movement in the market capitalisation for the top 10 participants was a decline of $1.2 billion relative to total Index market capitalisation of $31.9 billion. This highlights that the deterioration in the Index was caused as much by the top 10 participants as by the other 40.

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